On February 25 2010 the Supreme Court made the first-ever reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union on the exhaustion of Community plant variety rights under EU Regulation 2100/94.
Kristof Neefs from ALTIUS IP team recently published an article in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (Oxford Journals) on the use of similar sign in keyword advertising.
Olivier Vrins wrote an article in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, published by Oxford University Press, on the interpretation and consequences of the CJEU’s judgment in the Montex v Diesel case. His contribution aims to look into the post-Montex era, occupied by the national courts of the EU Member States, which, after all, are the watchdogs of Community law, as interpreted by the European Court. Their task, as will appears from his article, is far from easy.
There have been quite a number of recent developments in European SPC cases relating to combination products. Courts seem to have difficulties in dealing with this issue and various tests regarding validity and infringement have been developed by different national courts. In EPLAW's Patent Blog, Philippe de Jong focuses on these validity issues and infringement issues.
Under the system of plant breeders rights, also known as plant variety rights, the breeder of a new variety can obtain an exclusive right to perform certain acts with respect to material of his protected variety. This exclusive right comes in the form of a certificate which is granted by a body mandated to do so, provided that the variety meets the grant criteria laid down in the law.
La transposition en droit belge, courant 2007, de la Directive européenne 2004/48 sur la mise en œuvre des droits de propriété intellectuelle offrit l'occasion au législateur de revoir et d'harmoniser les procédures relatives au contentieux de la propriété intellectuelle. Deux ans après son entée en vigueur, il est possible de dresser un premier bilan de la réforme. Assurément positif.
Paul Maeyaert, partner at ALTIUS and head of the intellectual property and unfair competition practice, examines the ECJ case law and takes a closer look at some of the key issues in the transit debate.
The Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ) ruled that Article 82 EC does not preclude copyright management societies from imposing royalty rates calculated partly on the basis of television broadcast companies' revenues, provided that the royalty calculation takes into account the actual or estimated use of the licensed repertoire and except where another calculation method would permit a more accurate identification of the use of that repertoire and the audience reached, without a disproportionate decrease in the efficiency of copyright management.
The Court of First Instance of the European Communities (CFI) dismisses Lego’s appeal to the OHIM Grand Board of Appeal’s cancellation of its trade mark registration of a three-dimensional sign consisting of Lego’s basic toy brick.
Article by Christophe Ronse in "Auteurs & Media 2008/3, 213-218"
